A New Zealand data science company is playing a critical role in protecting vulnerable shark species in the Pacific. Dragonfly Data Science has been working with international development organisation Secretariat of the Pacific Community to assess the population of silky sharks in the western and central Pacific Ocean. Dragonfly director and fisheries scientist Dr Philipp Neubauer said it was a rare success story for a shark species, and it showed protective measures were working.
Named for their smooth skin, the silky shark is typically found in tropical open ocean waters, and can grow up to 2.5 metres in length by adulthood. But their numbers have depleted to critical levels, as they are often caught as bycatch by tuna fisheries, and before that, they were caught intentionally for their fins, meat, skin and jaws. "In other words, close to levels that would have eventually led to a population collapse," Neubauer said.
